Unearthing what she believes to be a Viking outpost, archaeologist Patricia Sutherland (in orange jacket) and her colleagues work in Baffin Island’s Tanfield Valley, which offered turf for sod shelters and a harbor for ships.

On the shore of Baffin Island, Tanfield Valley would have offered Viking seafarers a natural harbor, turf and stone for building materials, and fresh water for drinking. The Dorset people lived here in a settlement that today is called Nanook (its ruins are to the right of the white and yellow tents). Archaeological evidence suggests that Vikings built a base camp for hunting and trading.

Mosesie Kolola finishes up a soapstone carving of a seal. Like many Inuit artisans in the small Baffin Island village of Kimmirut, Kolola sells his crafts to the local co-op store, a modern-day trading post.

Skillfully working walrus ivory, Dorset artists portrayed the mysteries and wonders of their remote Arctic world, from wandering polar bears (next photo) to what may be the face of a European visitor (above).

Carvings on a piece of antler present a study in contrasts: One face is broad and round, features typical of the indigenous Dorset. The other is long and narrow with a prominent nose and heavy brows, evoking a European.

Whetstones discovered on Baffin Island and at other sites in the Canadian Arctic bear clear evidence of Viking technology. Wear grooves harbor traces of bronze, brass, and smelted iron—materials made by Viking metalsmiths but unknown among the Arctic's native inhabitants.